.seven.

After breakfast, the two groups piled into some of Isaac and Minnie's cars. As everyone left the house together, Sun grabbed Sarang's hand and asked her to stay behind for a moment. Junmyeon went ahead and promised to save her a seat in one of the cars.

"Sarang unnie," Sun began, biting down on her lip nervously. She had also noticed how at breakfast, she hardly ate anything. Then she excused herself for a few minutes, and Sun could hear her faintly from where she sat. She had gone to the bathroom to throw up. Right before Junmyeon had left them alone to talk, she had also caught how Sarang stumbled dizzily, and he had to catch her in his arms. Sun saw the concern on Junmyeon's face as well, but Sarang didn't want to say what was wrong with her. "Are you feeling well? I've noticed you've been tired and looking ill lately."

Sarang forced a smile onto her face and reassured her with a few words. "I'm fine, maknae. I think its just all the hard work we've been doing. But Jun got me some vitamins that have given me more energy."

"Are you sure?" Sun asked.

Her friend nodded her head. "Everything is fine. I'm just tired, and I can't eat because all I can think about is sleeping."

The maknae gave up, though she was still not convinced. But she would get nowhere if her friend didn't want to talk. The two girls left the house together and went over to the waiting cars.

Sun had gone in the same car with Minnie, Yixing, Junmyeon, and Sarang. But it was all for show in front of her group mates. Everyone in the car knew how things really were between the two idols. The others had gone in separate cars, but were going to follow her to the Chivas training grounds. When they arrived, they parked in a private lot. A camera crew was there waiting to greet them, and they were led through the building and onto the field.

The footballers were running some drills and they paused when they saw the group of foreign idols hesitantly walking onto the field. The idols paused and they were met with the team's coach. The footballers gathered behind him with curiosity on their faces. Isaac quickly cut the distance and weaved through the small crowd to stand by his wife, his arm slipping securely around her waist. She greeted him with a wide smile and a kiss on the lips. 

"Welcome to Verde Valle." The team's coach greeted them in English, an accent poking through his words. "My name is Matias Almeyda, and this is my football team. I'll give you all a few minutes to get introduced to each other."

He stepped back and let the players mingle with the visiting idols. 

Sun was standing off to the side by herself and she watched the sweaty footballers, trying to find a familiar face. But there were so many of them that she couldn't find Ernesto in the crowd. The other footballers on the team were quick to start making conversations with them, especially with the girls.

Yixing was with his group mates, making conversation with the footballers.

It took a few minutes, but she finally saw him. Ernesto had arrived, looking rather winded, with a cap on his head with the club's logo, wearing jeans and a shirt that said Harto Rebaño. As Sun looked closer, she felt a smile spreading across her lips, but it quickly dropped when she saw his left leg was in a cast and he was using crutches to move around. He was moving over to her, but she decided to meet him halfway, in order to save him the trouble. From the corner of his eye, Yixing saw her walking over to someone, but didn't give it much importance at first.

He didn't know that she had been talking to one of them over kakaotalk for a few weeks before traveling to Mexico.

"Are you Sol?" He asked her in English, his words hesitant.

She nodded her head slowly. Sol was another one of the nicknames he had for her. He said that it was the Spanish word for Sun, and she thought it sounded better.

A big smile spread across his lips as she confirmed his suspicion. He supported his weight on one of the crutches and extended his hand out to her, dropping the other crutch in the grass by accident. "Hola, I'm Ernesto. Its so nice to meet you. You're a beautiful little thing, so small." He teased, as he was much taller than her. She had to look up in order to talk to him.

Sun knelt down to get his crutch that had fallen and gave it to him. He thanked her, and was all smiles. But she asked him with a hint of a frown. "What happened to you?" She gestured to the cast around his leg.

He gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, as though it were no big deal. He had probably seen dozens of injuries like that in his own self and his team mates before. But for Sun, the fact that he was in a cast made her concerned. Ernesto explained. "I was injured during yesterday's game in Tijuana. My doctor said I'll be out for twelve weeks." Twelve weeks. Sun raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't have to come to practice today because of my injury. But Isaac texted me and said you were coming, so I quickly got dressed and rushed over here." He grinned sheepishly.

By that time, the idols and the footballers were getting organized for the game. There were twenty two footballers on the team, eighteen idols, and two invitees of the idols. They were to divide into teams of eleven. Sarang and Junmyeon said they were going to sit out, since she was too tired to participate and he wanted to take care of her. 

Nari and Kyungsoo had left the group to find somewhere private to talk. 

Sun had caught the tension between them and suspected they were going off somewhere to argue. All through breakfast they had snapped at each other a few times and shot each other looks. 

Most of the girls didn't want to participate, and instead went to stand on the sidelines, cheering for the people playing. The only one of the girls who wanted to play was Guti. Sun and Ernesto went to sit in the grass close by. The footballers chose their team of eleven, and the idols chose their team. 

The friendly match started within a few minutes, but Sun was paying no attention to them. Instead she was making conversation with Ernesto easily, as though they had known each other for years.

On the field, Yixing found himself noticing how Sun was spending a lot of time with one of the footballers. 

He tried to keep his focus on the game, but he couldn't. The mere sight of them talking, laughing together, managed to find a way to bother him. Though he tried to push the feeling away, he was unable to. All he could concentrate from that moment on was the two people sitting in the grass, having a good time, and he recalled when that smile used to be for him. And it still could have been, had he not been so resentful. He was still hurt in his heart, and he wanted to show it, with every moment he spent around her. 

Before he could even stop himself or think things twice, he kicked the ball out to the sidelines when it came to his feet. He kicked it directly at Sun and Ernesto, hitting the footballer in the arm. Both looked up just as Yixing went jogging over to them to retrieve the ball.

"Sorry." He apologized, but there was no real regret in his tone. Instead there was clear annoyance.

Sun shot him a look. She knew that the ball hitting them was no accident.

But Ernesto grabbed the football and handed it off to him with a polite smile. He had no idea that it hadn't been an accident. "No worries, man." The footballer said in English.

"Wish me luck, baby." Yixing said to Sun, and shooting the footballer a subtle glare. Then he leaned in and stole a quick kiss from her lips, surprising both Sun and Ernesto. "Cheer for me, okay?" Before she could say anything back to him, Yixing jogged back to the game with the ball in hand. 

Many of Ernesto's team mates were surprised as well, since they had been watching everything while they waited for their opponent to get the ball. They knew from their team mate that he had been aching to meet a beautiful Korean girl he had been introduced to by Isaac and Minnie. As far as they were aware, though, she didn't have a boyfriend. But now, they were seeing the contrary.

Ernesto blinked back in confusion, feeling as though a ton of bricks had fallen on him with the realization.  "Sol, do you...have a boyfriend?" He asked her with a slow hesitance.

Sun bit down on her lower lip. "No...well, yes. Yes and no."

"Yes or no?" He asked her, hoping to clarify.

"Its complicated." She replied, but immediately proceeded to explain. "Yixing was my boyfriend, and I loved him very much. But then we broke up because he was tired of dating in secret. You see, our companies hated each other and two of their idols dating would have been one of the biggest scandals in the industry." She paused for a moment when she realized she was rushing her words in her nervousness. She took a deep breath and then continued.  Ernesto only sat there, taking it all in. "But then our companies decided they did like each other now, so they asked us to pretend to date. So Yixing is imy boyfriend, but he technically isn't. Its a fake relationship."

"So..." Ernesto concluded after a moment, when it all sunk in for him. "All of that just now...he was just acting for the cameras?" He gestured to the camera crew filming the boys with Guti playing their football game and the other girls cheering for them.

Sun nodded.

"And there's..." He started another question. "Nothing between you two?"

Sun gave a shake of her head once more. As far as she knew, Yixing wanted nothing to do with her. He said it himself when they were in his apartment back in China. Just because he was speaking to her and being nice didn't mean he wanted to get back with her. He was still hurt by what she did to him and was convinced that she did it intentionally to mess with his feelings. He was just being nice to her now because they were starring in a film together, and were being forced to date by their agencies, and were even living in the same apartment building while in China. There was no harm in Sun seeing other people, or Yixing seeing other people for that matter. All her friends thought she needed to move on, and they were right.

He asked her one more question, gesturing to the camera once again. "So as long as that camera is rolling, you're that guy's" He pointed to Yixing on the field. "girlfriend? Otherwise, you're single?"

Again, Sun only nodded.

"I can live with that." He sighed and gave a shrug of his shoulders.

Sun heaved a sigh of relief when he said that. She liked Ernesto and wanted to continue seeing him, and talking to him, though a part of her still ached for Yixing and didn't want to hurt his feelings. But her mind told her coldly that Yixing no longer cared. Though it would hurt her to see him with someone else, and the thought of falling in love again scared her, her relationship with Yixing was dead and buried. It was time to move forward and push him out of her heart.

-

i've been so busy with work lately that it has taken me over ten days to finish writing this update. i've also been working on an update for "musi" all this time and have not finished it. but i will try to finish it either today, or within the next three days. since i don't work monday to wednesday.

but yesterday i worked a full eight hours for the first time--i normally work six or seven--and im super tired. but at least i know all my co workers are as dead inside as i am.

and that brings me some comfort.

thank you for reading. have a wonderful day!

-clary